Many of the larger or more sophisticated aircraft in use today employ auxiliary power units (APU's) or the like which typically are relatively small gas turbines connected to drive hydraulic pumps and/or elastic generators through a transmission or the like. In a number of instances, the transmission is secured to the air frame with the pumps and the generators mounted to one side of the transmission, and the gas turbine mounted to the other.
While a number of factors come into play in considering the mounting of the turbine engine to the transmission, such as overhung moment, weight and volume of the mounting structure, and the like, another factor to be considered is the torsional ridigity of the mount. Lacking torsional rigidity, torsional stresses at the interface of the engine and the transmission may require designing unusually large and/or heavy parts to accommodate such stresses, and such designs are clearly not looked upon with favor in aircraft where weight and volume constraints are always present.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above problems.